i failed at atkin's :O

It isn't for me, for a variety of reasons. But for anyone browsing these forums looking for a diet to try I wanted to share the positive things I took away from my week of induction.

1 - Psyllium husks RULE (fiber supplement). Definately a keeper for life, and I won't dread the next time I have to take perscription painkillers

2 - The world is saturated in cheap sugar. A tiny bit goes a long way and if you can break away from all sugar for even a few days your taste for it will change. The darkest chocolate tastes almost too sweet for me now, and I think if I had a full name brand candy bar or soda I'd have a heart attack.

3 - It was working! After being in a long stall I saw 159 yesterday. I adhered to it religiously; measuring, counting, even giving away a ham I bought before realizing it had dextrose in it.

4 - Chocolate, I took you for granted and I'm sorry. Let's never break up again.

Failure has GOT to be taken out of our vocabulary. You did not fail at Atkins, you successfully learned that Atkins is not for you. That's fine.

Don't be afraid to make a list of what you DID find that you liked about the plan, or a component that stood out as something did (or didn't) help. Because you may find that NO existing, "pre-packaged" diet is right for you, and you may have to continue to tweak and design your own custom-made plan (though if you're not confident that your plan is healthy and balanced, consider getting a dietitian's opinion, if you can).

In retrospect my real problem was caffeine. The book advises against it and I was going to follow it to the letter! Caffeine withdrawl turned out to be a very real problem for me the entire week. I thought I might fall asleep driving home from work and that's when I'm usually the most peppy!

I was sooooo cranky that when it came time to make more cucumber dressing with cream instead of plain yogurt I just cracked heh. I drove all the way to the co-op for yogurt, and a bottle of Honest Tea (60 sugar calories).

Then I proceeded to exceed my vegtable count by having asparagus for dinner.

I love that I've gotten to the point of thinking plain yogurt and asparagus are treats! So you are right and thank you for the responses Sometimes I need a bit of perspective ... it wasn't Pizza Hut!

I also have a caffeine addiction. I chose a different low carb plan from Atkins that wasn't quite as strict and only said I should stay off caffeine for 2 weeks. Unfortunately I couldn't do this either (serious caffeine addiction here) but I still managed to lose 25 lbs. in the first month.

The biggest thing for me was replacing the sugar-laden coffee and mountain dews with a couple of cups of coffee w/splenda in the morning and drinking nothing but water the rest of the day.

Like everyone else has said though - you didn't 'fail' - you just need to find the WoE that is made for YOU.